On a beautiful June day in Eugene, more than 250 J-School students received diplomas on the lawn behind the Knight Library.

As we announced a long list of School, University, regional and national awards earned by the class of 1998, I was struck by the outstanding accomplishments of our students. You will find many of the awards listed elsewhere in this issue of Flash.

While many variables determine the quality of education--faculty, facilities, endowment, libraries--none is more important than students. Without intelligent, interested, motivated students, the best teachers in the world will not succeed.

Tim Gleason, dean

We are proud of our award-winning students and celebrate their achievements. And we are encouraged by the breadth of the awards. Students from all of our undergraduate majors and our graduate programs are represented. This indicates strength across the curriculum.

Only a few of our 1,100 majors and pre-majors will win awards in any given year. In a speech last year to a group of journalism school administrators, Jay Harris, the publisher of the San Jose Mercury News and a former Ruhl Lecturer, challenged us. He asked a simple question: "Are you satisfied with your average student? Not your best students. Your average student?"

Harris was asking us to raise our standards and to never be satisfied with average, no matter how good our average might be. There is no doubt that the School faculty is never satisfied.

One piece of evidence: Grades are not a perfect indicator of performance, but in this age of grade inflation, we continue to hold the line. A "C" grade is still average in the School.

We attempt to create a climate in which students expect to be pushed to excel.

We attempt to create a climate in which students expect to be pushed to excel. Our students know we have high standards and they welcome the challenge. Not long ago, a student told me that he decided not to become a journalism major because he "didn't want to work that hard." I was sorry he decided to go elsewhere because he appeared to be a talented individual, but I was pleased to know that students perceive journalism as a demanding major.

This is no surprise to the readers of Flash. As I meet and talk to alumni around the country, one of the common themes I hear is pride in the rigorous standards in Allen Hall. We continue to set high standards for students and they continue to meet them.

We are not satisfied with the average, no matter how good it might be; but we take pride knowing that our "average" student has successfully completed a very demanding program of study.

Congratulations to all of our graduates.

-- Tim Gleason